Investments will create a new feature-length film exploring Black women scientists and engage underrepresented communities around STEM learning

Queens, NY - August 28, 2024 - The New York Hall of Science, the city’s only hands-on science and technology museum, today announced that the National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded two new grants - totaling nearly $4 million - to foster positive relationships among learners from backgrounds underrepresented in STEM fields and institutions that support them as science learners.

Specifically, the new investments will support three critical projects in partnership with NYSCI:

1) Create a feature-length documentary film - “My Mom, The Scientist” - that will explore pioneering Black women scientists and engage Black families around STEM learning;

2) Support a unique experiential community engagement project, Scientists in the Family, to connect audiences in new partnerships with science centers around the country; and

3) Research the use of culturally-responsive strategies to advance educational practices in informal STEM learning.

“These smart investments will help us further the mission of the Hall of Science - celebrating and inspiring the next generation of scientists and STEM leaders,” said Minerva Tantoco, interim CEO and President of NYSCI. “Not only will they help us improve how we engage and educate, but they are going to deepen our connections both to underrepresented families and science centers across the country. It’s a win-win. We want to thank Rep. Meng and our federal partners for helping us secure these investments. We are proud to partner with the National Science Foundation and all of the science lovers around the country.”

“We are thrilled that the NSF has supported this collaboration with the NYSCI,” said filmmaker and Yale University professor Thomas Allen Harris. “This is a tremendous opportunity for us to bring our PBS documentary, My Mom The Scientist and the stories of Black scientists that are not well-known to a wider audience. More importantly, we look forward to uncovering more hidden science stories through our national traveling community engagement experience & digital series, Scientists In The Family, through our collaboration with NYSCI and local science centers. Together, we hope to show Underrepresented communities that there is a place for them in STEM and that science has always been an integral part of their lives.”

DETAILS ON GRANTS

$3.2M for Scientists in the Family Project

In partnership with Family Pictures Institute for Inclusive Storytelling Inc., this initiative will result in a feature-length documentary film, "My Mom, The Scientist," which will be shown theatrically, broadcast on PBS, and streamed online. The film continues the filmmaker’s exploration of his journey in science and his mother’s story as a pioneering Black woman scientist and activist.

Scientists in the Family will also consist of a unique experiential community engagement process, which engages our target audience where they live and connects their lived experiences to the subject matter of the film, through outreach events connecting he project includes a touring experiential community program at science centers nationwide, including: The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia PA; Fleet Science Center in San Diego, CA, Discovery Place in Charlotte, NC, Michigan Science Center in Detroit, MI and four additional centers will be recruited from other, smaller cities across the country during 2025.

The project includes a companion digital outreach project consisting of 30 short-form videos expanding on the themes of the film and new narratives uncovered through the SiTF events. It will also create an integrated research project to study the impact of Family Pictures Institute for Inclusive Storytelling's unique interdisciplinary integrated community engagement methodology on audience interest in and engagement with STEM.

The "Scientists in the Family" project is designed to engage the public in exploring the persistent underrepresentation of Black Americans in science and the richness of scientific knowledge within Black American families. The project will begin in January 2025.

Additionally, this program aims to engage multigenerational Black families in STEM by connecting the themes presented in the film. A companion digital outreach project will be created, comprising thirty short-form videos that expand upon the film's themes. Furthermore, a research and evaluation project, led by the evaluation firm Knight-Williams, Inc., will study the efficacy of this unique approach to engaging Black families with STEM.

$630K for Community-Responsive Family Program Evaluation in Informal STEM Learning Institutions

The second project focuses on evaluating community-responsive family programs in informal STEM learning institutions. This initiative has the potential to advance knowledge about culturally responsive and participatory evaluation strategies to improve educational practices in informal STEM learning. By building on existing research on family engagement, early STEM learning, and evaluation capacity building, this project will collaborate with community stakeholders, including educators and caregivers, to ensure value alignment and ground new evaluation approaches in the lived experiences and practices of these communities. The project begins in September 2024.

The resources developed will help improve evaluation practices and capacity in other informal STEM program settings, including science centers, children's museums, and community-based organizations. The research will result in recommendations for developing family programming that redistributes ownership over the evaluation process and empowers practitioners to use culturally responsive evaluation practices to guide program improvement.

About NYSCI

The mission of the New York Hall of Science (NYSCI) is to nurture generations of passionate learners, critical thinkers and active citizens through an approach called Design, Make, Play.

Design, Make, Play emphasizes open-ended exploration, imaginative learning and personal relevance, resulting in deep engagement and delight in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The New York Hall of Science was founded at the 1964-65 World’s Fair and has evolved into a local, global and impactful center for interactive science:

• 400,000 annual visitors.

• 1 million learners worldwide use NYSCI’s digital products.

• 3,000 local teachers participate in professional development each year.

• 1,000 high-school and college students benefit from mentoring opportunities in STEM fields every year.

• 95 percent of the more than 4,000 young people who have participated in NYSCI’s Science Career Ladder program over the last three decades have gone on to college.

• 70 percent of the Science Career Ladder alumni work in STEM fields.

• NYSCI’s Science Career Ladder is formally accredited by Middle States Commissions on Elementary and Secondary Schools, recognizing the program for broadening participation in STEM and equity-aligned quality standards.

  
  

  For more information, visit nysci.org. Follow NYSCI on Twitter and Instagram: @nysci, and on Facebook at: facebook.com/nysci.

  
  
  

  About the National Science Foundation

  
  
  

  The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 to promote the progress of science; to advance national health, prosperity, and welfare; and to secure national defense. NSF funds research and education in most fields of science and engineering.

  
  

  ### CONTACT: press@nysci.org